| 1. |
- Dahlberg, Lena, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Ensamhet bland äldre personer i Norden
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Rapporten presenterar översikter av tidigare forskning och analyser av känslan av ensamhet bland äldre personer. Överlag finns det kunskap om ensamhetens konsekvenser för ohälsa, men det behövs ytterligare forskning där starkare slutsatser kan dras om sambandens riktning, och ett tydligare fokus på ensamhet i gruppen äldre personer. En systematisk översikt visar att det finns god kunskap om en del faktorer som ökar risken för ensamhet, men mer forskning behövs om andra potentiella riskfaktorer. Analyserna visar en relativt låg och stabil förekomst av ensamhet bland äldre personer i Norden, samt att ohälsa och olika indikatorer för social exkludering (t.ex. bristande sociala relationer, otillräcklig inkomst, samt otrygghet i närområdet) har samband med ensamhet. Slutligen konstateras att forskningen om nordiska interventioner för att minska ensamhet bland äldre personer är begränsad.
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| 2. |
- Agahi, Neda, et al.
(författare)
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Alcohol consumption in very old age and its association with survival : A matter of health and physical function
- 2016
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Ingår i: Drug And Alcohol Dependence. - : Elsevier BV. - 0376-8716 .- 1879-0046. ; 159, s. 240-245
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Alcohol consumption in very old age is increasing; yet, little is known about the personal and health-related characteristics associated with different levels of alcohol consumption and the association between alcohol consumption and survival among the oldest old. Methods: Nationally representative data from the Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD, ages 76-101; n=863) collected in 2010/2011 were used. Mortality was analyzed unti12014. Alcohol consumption was measured with questions about frequency and amount. Drinks per month were calculated and categorized as abstainer, light-to-moderate drinker (0.5-30 drinks/month) and heavy drinker (>30 drinks/month). Multinomial logistic regressions and Laplace regressions were performed. Results: Compared to light-to-moderate drinkers, abstainers had lower levels of education and more functional health problems, while heavy drinkers were more often men, had higher levels of education, and no serious health or functional problems. In models adjusted only for age and sex, abstainers died earlier than drinkers. Among light-to-moderate drinkers, each additional drink/month was associated with longer survival, while among heavy drinkers, each additional drink/month was associated with shorter survival. However, after adjusting for personal and health-related factors, estimates were lower and no longer statistically significant. Conclusions: The association between alcohol consumption and survival in very old age seems to have an inverse J-shape; abstention and heavy use is associated with shorter survival compared to light-to moderate drinking. To a large extent, differences in survival are due to differences in baseline health and physical function.
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| 3. |
- Agahi, Neda, et al.
(författare)
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Social integration and alcohol consumption among older people : A four-year follow-up of a Swedish national sample
- 2019
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Ingår i: Drug And Alcohol Dependence. - : Elsevier BV. - 0376-8716 .- 1879-0046. ; 196, s. 40-45
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Today’s older people drink more alcohol than earlier cohorts of older people. Social integration has been identified as an important factor for older people’s drinking, but the association is complex. This study investigates both high and low levels of social integration and their associations with longitudinal patterns of alcohol consumption among older women and men.Methods: Longitudinal nationally representative data of older Swedish women and men aged over 65 – the Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU) and Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD) – from 2010/2011 and 2014 (n = 1048). Associations between social contacts and social activities at baseline and longitudinal patterns of drinking frequency were examined with multinomial logistic regression analyses. Results: Men reported drinking alcohol more often than women, but the most common drinking frequency among both women and men was to drink monthly or less. Drinking habits were generally stable over time. People with high levels of social activity at baseline were more likely to have a stable daily or weekly drinking frequency or increased drinking frequency over the four-year follow-up period, particularly women. People with low levels of social contacts and/or social activities were less likely to have a stable daily or weekly drinking frequency, compared to people in the low and stable drinking frequency group.Conclusions: Alcohol consumption is embedded in a social context, older people drink in social situations and social integration predicts continued drinking patterns.
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| 4. |
- Agahi, Neda, et al.
(författare)
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Trajectories of social activities and mobility problems from middle to old age
- 2012
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Ingår i: The 21st Nordic Congress of Gerontology, Dilemmas in Ageing Societies, Abstracts and Program, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 10th - 13th, 2012. ; , s. 207-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: To investigate how trajectories of social activities, suchas spending time with family and friends, observed during a34-year period (from middle age to old age) were associated withtrajectories of mobility problems during the same time periodamong men and women.Methods: Nationally representative data from the Swedish Levelof Living Survey (LNU) and the Swedish Panel Study of the OldestOld (SWEOLD) were used. LNU data from 1968, 1981, 1991 and2000 were merged with SWEOLD data from 1992 and 2002 tocreate a longitudinal dataset with four observation periodscovering the period 1968-2002. The sample consisted of thoseaged 40-60 years at baseline who survived through the period,and participated in at least three observation periods (n=698).Trajectories of social activity were identified through clusteranalysis, and then used as predictors of mobility trajectories inmultilevel regression models.Results: Most people had a socially active life as they moved frommiddle age into old age. Five trajectories of social activity wereidentified: continuously very active, continuously active,increasing social activity, decreasing social activity, and continuouslyinactive. Upholding a very active social life was morecommon among women than men.Mobility problems increased significantly over time for bothwomen and men. Among men, decreasing activity levels overtime were associated with a faster increase in mobility problems.Among women, those who were continuously inactive or whodecreased their activity levels had higher levels of mobilityproblems, but the increase in mobility problems with age wassimilar across trajectories of social activity.Conclusions: Most men and women had high levels of socialactivity in midlife, and continued their high activity levels into latelife. Decreasing social activity was related to worse mobility inboth men and women. The nature and direction of theseassociations need to be explored further.
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| 5. |
- Agahi, Neda, et al.
(författare)
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Trajectories of social activities from middle age to old age and late-life disability: a 36-year follow-up
- 2013
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Ingår i: Age and Ageing. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0002-0729 .- 1468-2834. ; 42:6, s. 790-793
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: to examine the association between 34-year trajectories of social activity, from middle age to old age and late-life disability.METHODS: data from the Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU) and the Swedish Panel Study of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD) were used. LNU data from 1968, 1981, 1991 and 2000 were merged with SWEOLD data from 1992, 2002 and 2004 to create a longitudinal data set with five observation periods. Trajectories of social activities covered 1968-2002, and late-life disability was measured in 2004. The sample consisted of 729 individuals aged 33-61 at baseline (1968), who participated in at least four observation periods and who were free from mobility limitations at baseline. Four trajectories of social activity were identified and used as predictors of late-life disability.RESULTS: reporting low/medium levels of social activity from mid-life to old age was the most common trajectory group. Persons reporting continuously low/medium or decreasing levels of social activity had higher odds ratios for late-life disability (OR = 2.33 and OR = 2.15, respectively) compared with those having continuously high levels of activity, even when adjusting for age, sex and mobility limitations, and excluding persons with baseline mobility limitations.CONCLUSIONS: results suggest that the disability risk associated with social activities is related to recent levels of activity, but also that risk may accumulate over time, as indicated by the higher disability risk associated with the continuously low/medium level social activity trajectory.
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| 6. |
- Baumann, I., et al.
(författare)
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Do cognitively stimulating activities affect the association between retirement timing and cognitive functioning in old age?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ageing & Society. - : Cambridge University Press. - 0144-686X .- 1469-1779. ; 42:2, s. 306-330
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In response to the rising financial pressure on old-age pension systems in industrialised economies, many European countries plan to increase the eligibility age for retirement pensions. We used data from Sweden to examine whether (and if so, how) retirement after age 65 - the eligibility age for basic pension - compared to retiring earlier affects older adults' (between ages 70 and 85) cognitive functioning. Using a propensity score matching (PSM) approach, we addressed the selection bias potentially introduced by non-random selection into either early or late retirement. We also examined average and heterogeneous treatment effects (HTEs). HTEs were evaluated for different levels of cognitive stimulation from occupational activities before retirement and from leisure activities after retirement. We drew from a rich longitudinal data-set linking two nationally representative Swedish surveys with a register data-set and found that, on average, individuals who retire after age 65 do not have a higher level of cognitive functioning than those who retire earlier. Similarly, we did not observe HTEs from occupational activities. With respect to leisure activities, we found no systematic effects on cognitive functioning among those working beyond age 65. We conclude that, in general, retirement age does not seem to affect cognitive functioning in old age. Yet, the rising retirement age may put substantial pressure on individuals who suffer from poor health at the end of their occupational career, potentially exacerbating social- and health-related inequalities among older people.
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| 7. |
- Celeste, R. K., et al.
(författare)
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Social Mobility and Tooth Loss : A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Dental Research. - : SAGE Publications. - 0022-0345 .- 1544-0591. ; 101:2, s. 143-150
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study systematically reviews the evidence of the association between life course social mobility and tooth loss among middle-aged and older people. PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science were systematically searched in addition to gray literature and contact with the authors. Data on tooth loss were collated for a 4-category social mobility variable (persistently high, upward or downward mobility, and persistently low) for studies with data on socioeconomic status (SES) before age 12 y and after age 30 y. Several study characteristics were extracted to investigate heterogeneity in a random effect meta-analysis. A total of 1,384 studies were identified and assessed for eligibility by reading titles and abstracts; 21 original articles were included, of which 18 provided sufficient data for a meta-analysis with 40 analytical data sets from 26 countries. In comparison with individuals with persistently high social mobility, the pooled odds ratios (ORs) for the other categories were as follows: upwardly mobile, OR = 1.73 (95% CI, 1.53 to 1.95); downwardly mobile, OR = 2.52 (95% CI, 2.19 to 2.90); and persistently low, OR = 3.96 (95% CI, 3.13 to 5.03). A high degree of heterogeneity was found(I2 > 78%), and subgroup analysis was performed with 17 study-level characteristics; however, none could explain heterogeneity consistently in these 3 social mobility categories. SES in childhood and adulthood is associated with tooth loss, but the high degree of heterogeneity prevented us from forming a robust conclusion on whether upwardly or downwardly mobile SES may be more detrimental. The large variability in effect size among the studies suggests that contextual factors may play an important role in explaining the difference in the effects of low SES in different life stages (PROSPERO CRD42018092427).
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| 8. |
- Celeste, R. K., et al.
(författare)
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Socioeconomic Life Course Models and Oral Health : A Longitudinal Analysis
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Dental Research. - : SAGE Publications. - 0022-0345 .- 1544-0591. ; 99:3, s. 257-263
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We compared socioeconomic life course models to decompose the direct and mediated effects of socioeconomic status (SES) in different periods of life on late-life oral health. We used data from 2 longitudinal Swedish studies: the Level of Living Survey and the Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old. Two birth cohorts (older, 1925 to 1934; younger, 1944 to 1953) were followed between 1968 and 2011 with 6 waves. SES was measured with 4 indicators of SES and modeled as a latent variable. Self-reported oral health was based on a tooth conditions question. Variables in the younger and older cohorts were grouped into 4 periods: childhood, young/mid-adulthood, mid /late adulthood, late adulthood/life. We used structural equation modeling to fit the following into lagged-effects life course models: 1) chain of risk, 2) sensitive period with late-life effect, 3) sensitive period with early- and late-life effects, 4) accumulation of risks with cross-sectional effects, and 5) accumulation of risks. Chain of risk was incorporated into all models and combined with accumulation, with cross-sectional effects yielding the best fit (older cohort: comparative fit index = 0.98, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.98, root mean square error of approximation = 0.04, weighted root mean square residual = 1.51). For the older cohort, the chain of SES from childhood -> mid-adulthood -> late adulthood -> late life showed the following respective standardized coefficients: 053, 0.92, and 0.97. The total effect of childhood SES on late-life tooth loss (standardized coefficient: -0.23 for older cohort, -0.17 for younger cohort) was mediated by previous tooth loss and SES. Cross-sectional effects of SES on tooth loss were observed throughout the life course, but the strongest coefficients were at young/mid-adulthood (standardized coefficient: -0.41 for older cohort, -0.45 for younger cohort). SES affects oral health cumulatively over the life course and through a chain of risks. Actions to improve socioeconomic conditions in early life might have long-lasting effects on health if they help prevent people from becoming trapped in a chain of risks.
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| 9. |
- Dahlberg, Lena, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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A social exclusion perspective on loneliness in older adults in the Nordic countries
- 2022
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Ingår i: European Journal of Ageing. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1613-9372 .- 1613-9380. ; 19:2, s. 175-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Several factors associated with loneliness are also considered indicators of social exclusion. While loneliness has been proposed as an outcome of social exclusion, there is limited empirical evidence of a link. This study examines the associations between social exclusion indicators and loneliness in older adults (60+ years) in four Nordic countries. Data from four waves of the European Social Survey were pooled, providing a total of 7755 respondents (Denmark n = 1647; Finland n = 2501, Norway n = 1540; Sweden n = 2067). Measures of loneliness, demographic characteristics, health, and eight indicators of social exclusion were selected from the survey for analysis. Country-specific and total sample hierarchical logistic regression models of loneliness were developed. Significant model improvement occurred for all models after social exclusion indicators were added to models containing only demographic and health variables. Country models explained between 15.1 (Finland) and 21.5% (Sweden) of the variance in loneliness. Lower frequency of social contacts and living alone compared to in a two-person household was associated with a higher probability of loneliness in all countries, while other indicators were associated with loneliness in specific countries: lower neighbourhood safety (Sweden and Denmark); income concern (Sweden and Finland); and no emotional support (Denmark, Finland, and Sweden). A robust relationship was apparent between indicators of social exclusion and loneliness with the direction of associations being highly consistent across countries, even if their strength and statistical significance varied. Social exclusion has considerable potential for understanding and addressing risk factors for loneliness.
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| 10. |
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